Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-07-29
4 FORTUNATE ESCAPE.
IN ACCIDENT TO THE PRESI-
DENTS TRAIN.
THE FIREMAN STOPS THE TRAIN
AFTER THE ENGINEERS
DEATH.

AFTER THE ENGINEERS
DEATH.
An accident to the special train
carrying President Cleveland and
his party. during their recent trip
in New York state, might have
ended most disastrOusly but for a
fireman's bravery in a moment of
extreme danger. AS it was, the en-
gineer was killed, and the entire
train had a narrow escape from
destruction. The story Of the &C.
cident is told by Fireman John
Perego, as follows
ave left Clayton at $3.50 and let
her 90 for all she was worth. We
reached Carthage in good time,
where we left the special car which
had come down from OswegO in
the morning.
We started off then for Alder
Creek with only the Presidents spe-
cial car, containing all the rest OF
his friends. We crossed Styles
Bridge, two miles or so south o.
Glendale, and the engineer, Will.
liam Riley, gave three blasts of the
whistle at the whistling post. The
next thing | remember there was q
crash of some kind and the engin.
eer came rolling over against me.
| presume il was the broken steel
driving rod smashing through the
cab, but whether it struck him, or
any of the slivers struck him, |
don't know.
"The cab began TO rock from side
to side like a cradle, and the next
thing / knew the engineer either
jumped or fell from the cab. The
steam was escaping in a cloud and
filled the cab. 1t came, we found
afterward, from a hole the driving
rod had smashed into the boiler
/ was frightened and began to
crawl upon the coal IN the tender
to get over to the car. Then ! re.
membered that the steam was not
shut off and knew that we'd be apt
to run till it was, or till it had ex.
hausted itself, ! presume it would
have taken us right through Utica
without stopping, only we would
have been sure TO run into some.
thing in the Utica yard. The driv-
ing-rod, which was pounding the
ties at every revolution, might easl-
ly have caught in the machinery
and thrown us from the track
Well, crawled back into the cab
and shut off the steam. 1t didn't
take me ten seconds, but was wet
through and through with the hot
steam. The Superintendent, who
was aboard the train, had pulled
the safe.rope and we ran aOOut a
mile and a half and stopped. The
whole thing didn't take two min.
utes.n
The story of what occurred inside
Of the special IS told as follows by
one of the passengers owe had
been running at high rate Of
speed ever since leaving Clayton
The tracks ahead Of rs were clear
to i.lder Creek and we were not to
make another stop before getting
there. The party was rather IA
tigu ed after the days iaunt, and
the conversation was not very live
". / remember hearing the three
shrilI Whistles Of the engine and a
min ute later the steam was living
against the windows like rain. At
that moment Supt. Hammond, who
was in a forward compartment Of
the car, came hurrying in and pull
ed the safety rope. The steam and
the whistling had led me to believe
that something was the matter,
and the action Of the superinten-
dent confirmed my fears.
"ATrs. Cleveland was talking
quietly with Mrs. Herman, and ev-
identity had not the slightest sus-
picion OF danger. | looked at the
President. He sat there calm and
dignifed. as usual, but it was plain
to see that he had seen all that |
had and was on the alert. There
were others of the men, including
Commissioner Herman, who appre-
hended serious danger, but nobody
moved or sad n word to alarm the
ladies'. The train came to a stop
after running about two miles, and
when we went out on the front plat
form we found the fireman, who had
crawled over the tender, soaked with
steam. lie said the engineer had
jumped or been thrown from the
cab when the accident first occur
red. lie did not know what was
the cause of the trouble, and we
couldn't tell right away, because
the steam was still escaping in a
cloud from the boiler. Supt. Ham.
mond promptly sent out men to
flag the night express, which was
following close behind us, and 9th
ers were sent back TO look for the |
engineer. lie was found lifeless |
and mangled near the whistling
post. The railroad ties all the way
back were nicked two or three
inches deep, and many Of them had
actually been nOundpd into sDlin.